West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez pleads to an official during a game earlier this season. (Photo by David Pennock)

West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez and Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham are on two different ends of their career. Dillingham just started as a head coach three years ago, while Rich Rodriguez has been a head coach at three different Power Four programs and coached for 27 years. Dillingham is 34 to put that in perspective.

The two might be at different points in their careers, but the two have learned from each other.

Rodriguez is trying to rebuild a program at a Power Four level for the first time in this new era of college football, with the transfer portal and NIL. Dillingham quickly turned around Arizona State in just two seasons.

In Year 1, the Sun Devils were 3-9 and were picked to finish last in the Big 12 last season. Dillingham led Arizona State to a 10-2 record in the regular season, to win the conference championship, and played close in the first playoff game. Now, everyone, including Rodriguez, is trying to do the same.

Watching from afar, Rodriguez saw that Dillingham did a great job evaluating talent.

“Kenny’s from there,” Rodriguez said. “He knows the area. I think they’ve done a good job of getting some guys from there, but they’ve also got some transfers that came in and made an immediate impact. It’s all about evaluation. If you’re going to get some guys, it’s getting the right guys to fit in. I think they got the right guys both mentally and physically. They wanted last year to help get it flipped, and then they’ve built on that going forward.”

Dillingham’s learned a lot from Rodriguez, too, especially with backup quarterback Jeff Sims. Sims is more of a rushing quarterback, which is much different than pocket passer Sam Leavitt, who started most of the season. Dillingham had to adjust the offense.

Who’s one of the best when it comes to creating an offense around a mobile quarterback? Rich Rodriguez.

“That’s why Rich Rodriguez has always won games, is he’s dedicated to the plus-one run,” Dillingham said. “He’s won a lot of games doing it. For us, we’re trying to take a little bit of that element here towards the end of the year.”

So far, it’s worked. Sims rushed for over 200 yards and led the Sun Devils to a win over Iowa State in his first start since Leavitt was out for the year. Rodriguez will get a taste of his own medicine this weekend.

How to use a mobile quarterback isn’t the only thing Dillingham has learned from Rodriguez.

Dillingham also learned how to develop and recruit in the area. When Dillingham was coaching in high school in Arizona, Rodriguez was the head coach of Arizona.

Rodriguez won a lot of games with the Wildcats in the Pac-12 at the time and was named Pac-12 Head Coach of the Year in 2014, leading his squad to the Fiesta Bowl.

“Coach Rodriguez is a guy that I’ve studied for a long time and his offense,” Dillingham said. “Dating back to when I was a high school coach, and he was the head coach in the state. He did a phenomenal job down there. Won a lot of football games. For me, this is a really good challenge. His team plays really really hard.”

Both coaches, although almost a 30-year difference in age, have respect for each other, creating what should be a competitive game on Saturday.

“They’re on a two-game win streak,” Dillingham said. “They very well could be on a three-game win streak. This is a team that’s getting better and better and better.”